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Sometimes you get home from the market, unpack, and—oops—your table looks like this (grit and all):

Photo by Alpha Smoot

You're going to need more than one way to cook (and eat) those dandelion greens, Swiss chard, broccoli rabe, collard greens, beet greens, turnip greens, mustard greens, spinach, and kale you just got—because there's only so much pesto you can make.

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Arm yourself with these 15 ideas—you can cook any hearty winter green any of these ways. Who's a green machine now?

1. Cream them.

You know about creamed spinach—follow the same steps for kale, rabe, or any other sturdy green. Cook the greens down in olive oil, then simmer with cream and process if you'd like it smooth.

2. Dress them for salad.

Some greens, like beets greens or bok choy, should be cut into very thin ribbons so that they soften to a texture that's easy to bite. Others, like kale or dandelion greens, can be ripped into larger pieces (though feel free to shred them thinner if that's what you're feeling like).